Less Is More: Why a Balanced Management Style Wins

Less is more. Learn the delicate balance that a successful management style requires.

Thomas O. Davenport, senior practitioner at Towers Watson, recommends a less-is-more management style. “For a host of reasons,” Davenport says, “21st Century managers must do what they do away from center stage.” Not only will having a less intrusive management style contribute to the success of their team, it also “represents the only feasible approaches for responding to the inherent ambivalence people harbor toward leaders.” In short, the manager who spends “the right amount of person-to-person time (not too much, not too litte)” and makes “the time valuable for the employee (whether gratifying to the manager or not)” will be the manager who leads his or her team to success.